In many instances it is desirable to expose photosensitive media (such as photographic emulsions), which are sensitive to red, green, and blue light simultaneously. Numerous techniques to form continuous tone digital images exist which include three-color laser printing, rotating light-emitting diodes (LEDs), and cathode ray tube (CRT) exposure systems. The optical mechanical portion for the three-color laser writer are relatively inexpensive, however, the cost of the blue and green laser sources are relatively expensive, making the prior art systems cost prohibitive. LED and CRT printers are relatively slow and are also relatively expensive to manufacture and operate.
The present invention provides a printer which is relatively inexpensive to make and use which is reliable for writing of white light onto a photosensitive material, which allows high speed writing of color images and the use of existing photosensitive material.